Finally Home
by Oscuride
Summary: What really happened with Trip and T'Pol after the end of Terra Prime? We all know TATV was not cannon. Want to know the real story?


Hey guys, this is my first story so go easy. Hopefully you all like it!

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this story, this is pure fiction. Of course, fiction in the real world doesn't have to mean fiction in our minds :P

Brief Summary: What really happened with Trip and T'Pol after the end of Terra Prime? We all know TATV was not cannon. Want to know the real story?

Finally Home

She sit there clutching his still trembling hand. How much time had passed? It didn't matter. This was her first moment of peace and it would not be wasted. Even though Elizabeth, her beau- no- their beautiful daughter, hers and Trip's, was snatched away too soon, she started to finally feel the storm inside of her begin to calm. It was amazing what his presence could do to her. She wondered if he knew what effect he had on her. She continued to remember what their one night, so long ago, felt like. She made sure to remember every detail, even when she shoved him away the next morning… How foolish of her. She had found her soul mate but was too scared to take the leap; too scared to take the chance; too scared to tell him what she actually felt. But right now was not the time to be thinking- it was a time to finally act. All she knew was she couldn't waste this chance while Trip was still so close. She depended on his strength to get her through this loss. After what happened with Elizabeth, all she knew was she would never ever leave him again. She just hoped he still wanted her. She would not make the same mistake again.

Suddenly a wave of emotion overtook her. Just a few drops fell from her eyes, but it was enough to get his attention. Maybe they really did have a telepathic connection stronger than she would have thought possible. He seemed to always know when she was in need. Trip read T'Pol like a book, but, not only that, T'Pol realized she couldn't have cared less if he knew every single thought that was going through her head at the moment, they were soul mates, she had accepted that. She finally wanted him to know the truth.

Her tears brought Trip out of his emotional trance and he looked at her with his gorgeous blue eyes. T'Pol shuddered while remembering yet again their one night together, their lips touching, their moans audible, their hearts racing. Oh what he did to her. She could live one-thousand lifetimes and still never find someone as special as Trip. He had somehow worked his way into her Vulcan heart, imprinted his picture, and now he was as essential to her as her own blood. Right here, right now, she needed Trip and she knew he felt the same way. She hoped he would be able to forgive her, because, truthfully, she wouldn't know what she'd do if he were to push her away like she had done to him.

The sound of his voice brought her out of her lengthy meditation.

"T'Pol...I'm scared… more scared than I've ever been in my life. I thought losing Lizzy was the end of me, but you helped me through that, and I doubt you still realize how much you saved my life. But now we both have the same pain...I just don't know how I can possibly get through it. It hasn't stopped one bit, and any brief amount of hope for a future without pain keeps getting snatched away from me. The pain keeps coming and I feel like I'm drowning in a cold, endless abyss with no light. Every time I start to recover from pain, it hits me again. I don't think I can ever recover from this one..."

"You need not do it alone…Trip. I am right here. I can help you get through the pain of losing our daughter if you let me."

"You don't understand. It's not just the pain from losing Elizabeth. When I first heard about Elizabeth I was angry. But after I thought about it, I realized I really wanted her to be, not only mine, but ours. I thought she could bring us back together. It hurts when I'm not around you, T'Pol. It hurts when you act as if I don't exist and it hurts so much now that I realize our chance of a family may have just ended. I want to be with you, and that's hasn't, and never will, change. You're it for me. I love you, T'Pol, forever and always."

He loved her. Of course she'd expected it, but he had actually said it. What was this feeling inside of her that wouldn't go away? She felt like she was soaring up high in the sky, weightless. She realized this was what it felt like to be in love. In love with a human, no doubt. A Vulcan in love with a human who was the complete opposite of her. She would never, could never, love another man.

Her fear almost instantly washed away as her mouth and his clashed together for the hardest, deepest, most passionate kiss they had ever shared. They pressed so close together that an observer could reasonable believe that they had become one.

Any doubt Trip had had about T'Pol loving him instantly washed away as their mouths entered into an eternal battle. Alternating between slow and fast, Trip let T'Pol set the pace; he always did like a dominant female. Finally, he thought as they came up from their kissing… she finally showed me she cares. Trip knew he couldn't expect her to say 'I love y-'

"I love you, Trip"

"What was that?" His mouth was agape. As if their make out session wasn't surprise enough, she said the one statement he thought she could never say. He couldn't believe it. T'Pol never ceased to amaze him. She'd given up so much of her heritage to say those three small words to him, and he knew he couldn't waste her sacrifice to him.

"T'Pol, wait right here for a moment...please, just one sec, don't move!" He ran out of her quarters as fast as a bullet leaves a gun. Upon his return, and not even bothering to chime, he walked right back into her quarters. The stray thought of how familiar he was with her crossed T'Pol's mind and she almost smiled.

He didn't return to his spot on the bed right next to her, but instead proceeded to kneel down in front of her, a small black box in his outstretched hands.

"T'Pol I love you more than anything. From the moment I saw you, you sparked something inside of me that I'd never felt before in my whole life. I know I've been a real jerk to you recently, and I've said some stuff I'm not too proud of, like the Romeo and Juliet thing… but unlike Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers from the same world, who died knowing they could never be together, I know we, two star-crossed lovers from different worlds, can die knowing we lived happy lives together, in love." He opened the black box and inside was the most beautiful ring T'Pol had ever seen. The ring had a round emerald stone wrapped in the most beautiful diamond band she had ever seen, and finished off with a circle of gold surrounding the center stone. Clearly, he had been studying the history of her people. "T'Pol, you and I belong together, and I don't give a damn what Starfleet, Captain Archer, Earth, Vulcan, or any other low life bigot thinks. All I know is that I love you and I want us to be together for the rest of our lives. T'Pol of Vulcan, love of my life, will you marry me?"

It took approximately one point three-five seconds for her to respond with a resounding "YES!"

They didn't care what would happen to their jobs, they didn't care what people would think, or even say; all they cared about was that they had finally found each other, in the middle of death, pain, and devastation, both Trip and T'Pol, two people from different worlds, different cultures, had finally admitted their love and need for each other. They had finally found peace.

As they laid down to sleep, letting the exhaustion of the last 48 hours take hold, T'Pol though of how perfect this moment felt to her, how perfect it felt to be laid down next to Trip, how perfect the world felt now. Trip spooned against her back, his arms protectively around her waist, this was how it was supposed to be in the world; just two people in love forgetting about everything and everyone but themselves. It was the peace any couple deserved, especially them.

This is what it felt like to feel forever. This is what it felt like to be home.

Thank you for reading! I would love any comments about what you think. I intended this to stand alone, but if people like it enough, maybe I could throw something else together.


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